‘Dhoni has real fans; rest everyone has social media, paid ones,’ Harbhajan
Harbhajan backed Dhoni’s call to continue playing for as long as he wants and acknowledged Dhoni’s craze, saying he is perhaps the only one with a real fan base.
Harbhajan Singh has left the netizens fuming over his latest remarks. The former multi-time IPL winner took a sly dig at the fan bases of all players other than MS Dhoni's. Having played with and under Dhoni for India and the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK), winning trophies everywhere, Harbhajan commented on rumours of Dhoni not putting in the towel at the end of this season.
As IPL 2025 resumed on Saturday with a washed-out clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Harbhajan and former India opener Aakash Chopra expressed their thoughts on speculations of Dhoni playing another season - IPL 2026.
CSK stand-in captain for this edition, MS Dhoni, was like a pale shadow of himself with the bat in hand, scoring just 180 runs from 12 outings and averaging above 25. Though he hit 11 sixes and 12 fours thus far, Dhoni failed to guide his team home on several occasions this time. CSK sits at the bottom of the points table with just two wins in 12 matches.
Speaking on Star Sports on the sidelines of the RCB vs KKR game, Harbhajan backed Dhoni’s call to continue playing for as long as he wants and acknowledged Dhoni’s craze, saying he is perhaps the only one with a real fan base, while others rely on social media and paid fans.
"He can play as long as he can. Had it been my team, I would have made a different decision. Fans will want him to continue playing. I feel he has a real fan base; the rest are all on social media, which are even paid fans. Leave them out because if we start discussing that, the discussion will go in a different direction," Harbhajan said.
Meanwhile, sitting beside him, Chopra was left in splits over Harbhajan’s remarks, jokingly saying, “You weren't supposed to be this honest,” to which Harbhajan replied, “Someone had to.”
Kohli’s RCB closer to playoff spot
Led by Rajat Patidar, RCB gained a point thanks to a washed-out clash against KKR, with them sitting in first place with 17 points from 12 contested matches.
For RCB to qualify for the IPL 2025 playoffs, they need just one point from the two remaining matches.
On the other hand, the defending champions KKR are the fourth team to get knocked out of this edition after SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), Rajasthan Royals (RR) and CSK.